TAPE ACTIVATED PIANO AND ORGAN PLAYER

• US 3,789,719 A
• Filed: 08/28/1972
• Issued: 02/05/1974
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/1972
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Joseph Maillet
• Original Assignee: Joseph Maillet
• Inventors: Maillet, Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): Wilkinson, Richard B.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Gonzales, John F.
• Application Number:
  US05/284,352
• Time in Patent Office: 526 Days
• Field of Search: 84/5,19,115,1.01,1.03,161,462
• US Class Current: 84/115
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/005 on magnetic tape

Abstract

A system for recording piano or organ music on a recording tape and replaying the tape to actuate a reproduction of the music on a playback piano or organ, the system including electrical means to sample, store and transmit signals from the individual keys of the first instrument to a recording tape, means to count a predetermined number of these signals and to continuously reset the system to sample, store and transmit a further predetermined number of signals after each predetermined number has been transmitted, and means to receive the transmitted signals from the tape, and reproduce these signals on the second instrument by means of causing each signal to actuate a means to play a corresponding key on the second instrument.

Claims

1. An apparatus for recording and reproducing music on a keyboard instrument comprising a keyboard having a plurality of keys, each key being operatively connected to a switch means, each of said switch means being actuatable by depression of the corresponding key to send a key pulse to an electrical impulse storage means, said storage means being constructed and arranged to provide a sampling of each key through the open or closed position of its corresponding switch to determine whether the key has been depressed, means to shift each sampling from said storage means to a recording tape, and means to reset said storage means for a further sampling of said keys after a predetermined number of keys have been sampled;

said storage means being an electrical shift register having a series of stages, each stage corresponding to a key on said keyboard, each of said stages comprising a flip-flop transistor assembly, a separate signal gate in circuit between the switch means of each key of said keyboard and said shift register, said signal gates being actuatable to send a signal to the corresponding stages of the shift register upon actuation of the corresponding switch means by depression of the corresponding key of said keyboard, oscillator means in electrical circuit with said shift register to send clock pulses through said shift register to shift the signals from said signal gates from stage to stage of said shift register onto said recording tape, and a binary counter in electrical circuit with said shift register, said binary counter also being in electrical circuit with said oscillator and being constructed and arranged to count the number of clock pulses from said oscillator in synchronism with the clock pulses sent to said shift register, said binary counter being in electrical circuit with two sync pulse generators, one of said sync pulse generators being constructed and arranged to send a sync pulse signal to said shift register to reset all the stages of said shift register after a first predetermined number of clock pulses have been counted by said binary counter, and the other sync pulse generator being constructed and arranged to send a second sync pulse signal to said signal gates and to said binary counter to reset said signal gates and said binary counter after a second predetermined number of clock pulses have been counted by said binary counter.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 including playback means to receive the samplings from said recording tape and apply them to the keyboard of a second instrument, said playback means including an actuating means for each key of said second keyboard, each actuating means being responsive to a corresponding key pulse from said recording tape and being constructed and arranged to actuate the corresponding key on said second keyboard.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein a multiplexer assembly is constructed and arranged to receive said key pulse, clock pulse and first sync pulse and to pass said pulses to said recording tape.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said multiplexer assembly comprises a second binary counter in electrical circuit with said oscillator to receive pulses therefrom, said second binary counter being in electrical circuit with a plurality of signal gates, each signal gate being constructed and arranged to receive either a key pulse, a clock pulse or a first sync pulse and to pass such corresponding pulses to said recording tape upon receiving a signal from the corresponding stages of said second binary counter.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein an amplified clock pulse from said oscillator is superimposed onto the clock pulse sent to said recording tape by said multiplexer assembly.